of historic magnitude. >> president obama, fema and the homeland security department are coordinating with states across the us as they brace for impact in chicago, that means up to possibly 2 feet of wind-whipped snow. >> the likes of which we have not seen in decades. >> reporter: a third of the country is grappling with elements, oklahoma, kansas and missouri are already getting pounded tonight. in st. louis, officials are preparing for power outages. >> it could cause problems over the next two or three days, because that ice is not going to leave. >> reporter: kansas city, missouri, has closed its airport. the two airports in chicago, mid way and o'hare are both technically open but planes aren't going anywhere. some 10,000 flights between today and tomorrow have been canceled. air traffic for the rest of the week will be a mess, and this storm is long from over anyway. >> this means very large amount of snow falling very quickly, and extremely strong winds especially near the lake front. >> reporter: the pain from this storm expected to be substantial but brief, as the storm int
